


At Last I See the Light

by AbiQuill



Category: Brave (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/F, Fate, Fate & Destiny, First Kiss, First Love, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24422686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbiQuill/pseuds/AbiQuill
Summary: Looking at Rapunzel, Merida suddenly realized that all those days chasing down the wisps, all those years living in DunBroch and feeling nothing but dread when thinking of her future as Lady Insert-Clan-Name-Here-Based-On-An-Archery-Contest, she had never truly seen things the way they were.
Relationships: Merida/Rapunzel (Disney)
Kudos: 24





	At Last I See the Light

_Her hair is magnificent._ Merida hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, looking at it, wanting to touch it, from the moment she saw Rapunzel in the tower. Well, maybe not from the very first moment, as that had involved a frying pan and possibly a minor concussion, but once they’d properly left the tower… once Merida had seen Rapunzel’s hair glinting in the sunlight as her feet felt grass beneath them for the first time… since then, Merida couldn’t take her eyes from Rapunzel’s hair. Had that only been yesterday? Merida felt like she’d been entranced by Rapunzel’s hair for years.

She’d even told Rapunzel her real name. After just a few hours acquaintance! Probably due to that gorgeous hair. That gorgeous magical hair that glowed softly with a song and felt so cool and smooth wrapped around her wounded palm… it was definitely the hair that had made her tell Rapunzel everything. Stupid hair making Merida let her guard down when she really needed to keep it up, at least until she understood…

Three months ago, when Merida had left DunBroch behind, she had assumed a new name. After vowing not to marry any of the suitors her parents put before her, and completely upsetting the gathering of the clans by outshooting the first-born sons of her father’s liegemen (and perhaps having caused a wee inter-clan war), Merida felt that traveling under her own name would be foolish. There was an old tale Merida had loved as a young girl, a tale of a highwaywoman named Glynnrida who could outshoot any man and who fought on the side of justice, peace, and equality. Merida longed for the freedom that Glynnrida possessed, and so she gave her name as Glynnrida in any tavern or town she passed through. True to her nature, she’d caused a few kerfuffles and gotten on the wrong side of a few drunken scoundrels (it wasn’t her fault she was a better archer than them, they ought not to have made assumptions just because she was a girl). If she was a wanted woman, it was only because embarrassed men always mask their shame as a woman’s misconduct.

Merida was following the wisps. The night she’d left, Merida had an awful row with her mother. Queen Elinor didn’t understand, she’d never understand, why Merida couldn’t marry one of these, these, these boys. Merida had ripped apart a tapestry. She still felt an ashamed lump in her throat when she thought of the hurt in her mother’s face. Merida knew her mother loved her, but Merida couldn’t stay in DunBroch, not if it meant living her mother’s version of her own life. So she’d run to the stables, saddled up Angus, and ridden away. Honestly, Merida had expected to return in an hour or two, but then she’d seen the wisps. Old legends said that wisps would lead you to your fate. At first she had seen so many of them the path seemed clear, but for weeks now, she rarely saw them. If the wisps abandoned her, what would she do?

The last time she had seen the wisps was yesterday – but not at Rapunzel’s tower. She’d been loitering in the capital city of Corona for several days with almost no wisps, unsure where to go to next, when one appeared by the fountain in the town square. As she approached it, it blinked out of sight, and appeared again on the path up to the castle. She had scaled the castle walls following the wisps, and the very last one had appeared hovering over a crown on display in the great hall. This wisp was different from the others – it was larger, and green instead of blue. Strangely, she thought it looked like a bear. Merida had won a grappling hook from a terrible shot at an inn a week before, and using it she dropped into the great hall from the castle roof, laid hands on the crown, and shimmied back up and away just as the castle guards saw what she had done.

She and Angus had been on the run when she stumbled into the grove that held Rapunzel’s tower. Then, the frying pan. And Rapunzel taking the crown from her and promising it back only if Merida complied with her request to go see some stupid lanterns. But what choice did she have? That crown was her fate. It had to be. The wisps had led her to it.

What would it be like to have it run silkily through her fingers? Merida snapped back to reality. She was walking towards a boat, with Rapunzel, and she realized she’d been staring at her hair again. Her hair was braided now, and laced through with pink and purple and white flowers. Mesmerizing. Rapunzel. Rapunzel who knew her name. Och, why had she ever thought revealing her identity would be a good idea? Yet somehow, it seemed so easy with Rapunzel to admit that she wasn’t the great Glynnrida, a swashbuckling rogue who could outshoot and outwit anyone in her path!... instead, she was Merida. Who had disappointed her mother and maybe set her kingdom on a path to destruction. Rapunzel had understood. Rapunzel knew what it was to live a mother’s version of life, rather than one’s own life. Rapunzel had said that she preferred Merida to Glynnrida.

Merida couldn’t stop thinking about that. Rapunzel liked her. Rapunzel liked her as Merida. Not as Princess Merida, but as Merida. As Merida who didn’t like tight dresses or weaving tapestries. As Merida who loved her bow and her horse more than being a princess. Merida had never had a friend before – there weren’t many women her age in the castle and only those inane boys visited on clan visits – and… was this what it felt like? After last night, when she’d told Rapunzel her name, Merida felt a strange kind of soft warmth spread from the pit of her stomach up into her face whenever she looked at Rapunzel.

Still, Rapunzel had her crown, and she needed it back. She needed to know how it was her fate.

But now, she wanted Rapunzel to see the lanterns not just to get the crown back, but because she wanted to make Rapunzel happy. If these lanterns were Rapunzel’s dream, she wanted to make sure that Rapunzel had the best seat in the house. While Rapunzel decorated the town square with chalk and learned that her body could dance, Merida had snuck away to rent a boat down by the sea. She had enough money for that, at least. That and a few apples for Angus. As the sun set, she led Rapunzel to the dock.

“Where are we going?” Rapunzel asked.

“Well, best day of your life? I figure you should have a decent seat,” Merida said with a grin. She held out her hand to help Rapunzel into the boat. Their hands had touched before, when Rapunzel had used her hair to heal Merida’s palm, but this felt… warm. Och, warm? That wasn’t it, but that _was_ it. The moment passed as Rapunzel settled into the prow of the small rowboat, her face pointed seaward. Merida climbed in and grabbed the oar.

They rowed out past the ships in the harbor, until all of the city was spread before them. The castle stood proudly on the hill and Merida couldn’t help but think of the king and queen inside. While in the city waiting for the wisps, she’d learned that they were mourning their lost princess, and the lanterns were their way of remembering her. She felt a sudden pang thinking of her own parents. She knew her mother would be frantic with worry and her father would tear up the Highlands looking for her. But she also knew that she had to follow her own destiny, and it wasn’t in DunBroch.

The sun had completely set now, and the only light came from a smattering of stars overhead and a small lantern hung on the stern of the boat. Lost in her own thoughts, Merida had gone for a full three minutes without staring at Rapunzel’s hair – must be a new record. But then she heard a soft sigh from beside her.

She turned to see Rapunzel looking down at the water. “You okay?” Merida asked.

“I’m terrified,” Rapunzel replied.

“Why?” Merida asked the question, but deep down, she thought she knew why. These lanterns were Rapunzel’s dream – Rapunzel’s fate. And what happens when you’ve achieved your dream? What happens when you find your destiny? What if it’s not good enough? What if it is, and then it’s over?

Rapunzel looked back at Merida with her large green eyes full of meaning. “You know why. What do I do after this? When I go home, what do I dream about?”

“Well, that’s the good part of achieving your dreams. You get to find a new dream.”

Rapunzel looked at Merida strangely for a moment, as if she wanted to say something that she couldn’t quite figure out how to say. Merida felt that warmth in her stomach and she knew in a moment her face would match her unruly curls, so she turned back to the castle. The moment broke, and Rapunzel spent the next few minutes pulling blooms from her hair and watching them float on the water.

Then, Merida saw it. The first paper lantern appeared in the sky. At almost the same instant, Rapunzel saw it, too. She leapt to her feet, nearly toppling the rowboat, and stood clinging to the prow, her eyes drinking in the sight as more and more lanterns rose.

Rapunzel looked so beautiful Merida could hardly take her eyes from her. Her purple satin dress, a bit worse for the wear after two days of travel, set off the beauty of her golden hair. Merida noticed, too, how it clung at the curve of her hip, how the ribbons of the bodice laced just so, drawing her eye to Rapunzel’s breast. Merida felt that warmth again in her stomach. She wanted Rapunzel to turn to her, to say something, to say what she was going to say earlier. Or maybe Merida didn’t want that. She didn’t know. She wanted. Something.

Rapunzel’s eyes were round and full of wonder, her face alight with the joy of a realized dream, and also the aching sadness of a realized dream. As Merida watched Rapunzel, the sky filled with light. More and more lanterns rose from the city, until the whole sky seemed to shine with candlelight in place of the sun. Merida reached for two paper lanterns she had brought with her, hidden in her pack. She carefully lit them, then said softly, “Rapunzel.”

Rapunzel turned and saw Merida holding the two lanterns. She bounced lightly back to the seat of the boat, facing Merida. She made a small noise, something between a sigh and a giggle. “I have something for you, too.”

Merida watched as Rapunzel pulled out a brown leather satchel – she knew it was the crown. Rapunzel was offering her the crown. Rapunzel was offering Merida back her fate – the last thing the wisps had shown her. Merida could take it right now and leave. She’d only promised to do this whole lantern thing because that was Rapunzel’s condition for returning the crown. And now, Rapunzel was just, just handing it to her.

But somehow, it didn’t seem important anymore. In this moment, what Merida really wanted was to hand Rapunzel a paper lantern. She wanted their paper lanterns to float into the sky together, to mingle with all the other paper lanterns in the gorgeous tableau before them. She wanted them to be a part of something bigger than them, but still, together.

“I should’ve given it to you before,” Rapunzel continued. “But I was just scared. And the thing is, I’m not scared anymore, you know what I mean?”

Merida’s thoughts were running wildly and almost nonsensically through her head, and the warmth in her stomach had suffused her whole body and she could feel a smile spreading across her face unbidden. She reached out her hand and pushed the leather satchel away, setting it in the bottom of the boat.

“I’m starting to.”

Rapunzel smiled, and her green eyes looked relieved and happy. Merida could hardly believe that Rapunzel was looking at her like that. She handed Rapunzel a lantern and they let them go together, and they floated up into the sky, circling each other like dancers… or lovers.

Merida suddenly realized, all those days chasing down the wisps, all those years living in DunBroch and feeling nothing but dread when thinking of her future as Lady Insert-Clan-Name-Here-Based-On-An-Archery-Contest, she had never truly seen things the way they were. The boys that her father had paraded before her were indeed unimpressive, but it wouldn’t have mattered if her father had presented Robert the Bruce himself – Merida would never love any of them the way that she loved Rapunzel. She would never, ever want any of them the way she wanted the woman sitting in front of her now.

Rapunzel had leaned out of the side of the boat to help boost a low-flying lantern back into the air, and Merida marveled at how lovely she was, shining in the starlight. Impulsively, Merida reached out and grabbed Rapunzel’s hand. Rapunzel looked at her, and for a moment Merida was worried she’d misread the situation. Rapunzel wasn’t smiling; instead, she looked momentarily unsure. Merida felt her breath catch in her throat.

Then Rapunzel smiled and grabbed Merida’s other hand. Hands clasped, Rapunzel said, “This might sound ridiculous or corny, but I feel like, at last I’ve seen the light.”

A wave of happiness broke over Merida so strongly she thought she might cry. Her heart seemed to well up in her chest, and her whole body was warm. Where her hands touched Rapunzel’s, it felt like the air in a lightning storm. “This might be a very Scottish metaphor, but I feel like I’ve been living my whole life in a thick fog, and when I look at you, it’s lifted.”

“I’ve stared out my window for eighteen years, seeing only the sky as it goes from blue to grey to pink to black and when I look at you, it’s like I’m seeing the sky anew – it’s familiar and safe and something I’ve known my whole life, and yet unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.”

Merida squeezed Rapunzel’s hands. “You’re my new fate.”

“You’re my new dream.”

Lanterns swirled in the sky by the thousands, reflecting rosy golden off the surface of the water. Merida noticed the golden flecks in Rapunzel’s green eyes reflected the light, her face lit with joy. Slowly, Merida leaned in. She’d only ever kissed one person before, the doltish heir of Clan Mackintosh when they’d been eleven years old and it hardly counted as it was on a dare from one of the other boys. She knew Rapunzel hadn’t kissed anyone either.

She heard Rapunzel’s breath hitch, a small, barely audible gasp as Merida leaned towards her. But Rapunzel was leaning in, too. Merida couldn’t tear her eyes from Rapunzel’s face. She brought her left hand up to Rapunzel’s cheek, briefly cupping Rapunzel’s face in the palm that her hair had helped to heal. Merida felt her heart racing. She was so nervous. With her index finger she traced Rapunzel’s hairline from forehead to ear. Then she let herself touch Rapunzel’s golden hair – not to heal anything, but just for the sheer pleasure of feeling Rapunzel’s hair beneath her fingertips. Merida was so close now she could feel Rapunzel’s breath on her face. Rapunzel’s lips were so close, slightly parted. Softly, Merida pressed her own lips to Rapunzel’s. The sensation was like climbing Fire Falls and drinking the water from the well. It was elating and something that only the brave could do. It was brave, to let herself be vulnerable with someone. It was brave, to recognize her own feelings.

As Merida was about to break from the kiss, Rapunzel reached out her hand to Merida’s waist and pulled Merida back in. Merida noted the warmth she felt through her shirt, just above her hip, where Rapunzel held her. She noted, too, a new kind of warmth suffusing her, and this warmth moved down, rather than up. She wanted more of Rapunzel. She wanted to feel Rapunzel’s curves, to brush her unbound hair. She wanted her whole future to be Rapunzel. She brought her hand up to Rapunzel’s bodice, attempting to untie the laces that kept her from touching as much skin as she wanted. Rapunzel, in turn, began to fumble with Merida’s vest. But as she did, the weight in the boat shifted and the boat tilted ominously. They would both end up in the sea at this rate.

“Wait,” Merida gasped. “I know of a place we can go… have you heard of an inn called The Snuggly Duckling?”


End file.
